photo by Mark Harris

Blackwood RFC have been rewarded for their first class hosting of rugby league this summer by being given the honour of staging a major international when Wales under-19s host the touring Australian Schoolboys side.

The Gwent club opened a rugby league arm this summer, the Blackwood Bulldogs, who shocked everyone by reaching the semi-finals of the Welsh Conference Premier in their first ever season.

Now, one of the greatest international sides in the world will open their seven-match European tour at Glan-yr-Afon Park on Sunday 26th November.

Since their inception in 1972, the Australian Schoolboys side have won 97 out of their 104 matches and will be hot favourites to win in Blackwood.

However, four of those seven defeats have been in the last four years proving that the gap in quality in international rugby league is getting smaller.

Blackwood Bulldogs’ secretary Keith Stock is overjoyed to be hosting the match.

Stock said: “We’re very pleased indeed to be staging this game. For us, it’s a feather in our cap for the way we’ve organised rugby league this season. A big thanks has to go to Blackwood RFC for hosting the matches. We wouldn’t have had the success at Glan-yr-Afon without their support. We’re looking forward to the day and we’re confident that it will be a success.”

The sqaud is:

Chris Vitalini – Newport Titans
Lloyd Collins
Ales Stubbs
Owen Lewis – Valley Cougars
Steve Williams
Chris Holcombe
Steve Parry
Scott Britton
Sam Studley
Geraint Evans
Chris Watts
Ryan Davies
Scott Fitzgerald
Liam Williams
Elliot Kear
Ashley Bateman
Louis Fox
Nick Tucker
Matt Barron - Keighley Cougars
Lee Williams – Valley Cougars
Kevin James – Valley Cougars
Tom Burnell – Cardiff Demons
Gareth Moore – Fighting Irish
Oliver Hughes – Cardiff Demons
Jason Keneally – Fighting Irish
Williams Jones - Valley Cougars
Adam Richards

article by Ian Golden
13 November 2006